I’m getting dropped. It’s a Saturday morning in the middle of August, and I’m on a training ride with my teammate Christian in Portland’s Forest Park. We are headed up a stupidly steep fire lane and all I can think is: I’m getting dropped. I should be at home sleeping in, or at least eating breakfast and reading a book. But instead I’m out here, heart rate through the roof, sweat dripping on to my Garmin so I can’t even read it, looking for an extra gear I know isn’t there. What am I doing?

Portland, OR — Even though it seems like summer only started a few weeks ago, the cyclo cross season is now rapidly approaching. The Knights of the Crusade have been feverishly working to line up race locations and dates that we think will make for the most kick butt season ever. Our website, www.crosscrusade.com is finally updated and the 2011 race schedule is posted. We will be visiting many of our long standing venues this year and at the same time have made some cool changes. The biggest of these changes is that we will be going to Bend for the Halloween Crusade weekend on Oct. 29/30. The City of Bend is throwing out a huge fuzzy welcome mat for us and is allowing us to race on the same course that was used for the 2009/2010 U.S. National Cyclocross Championships. Cross Crusade presenting sponsor, Deschutes Brewing Co. is throwing a huge party on Saturday the 29th in their warehouse. Which happens to sit just next to the race venue.

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Cyclocross Magazine is a print and digital magazine and website for the cyclocross community by cyclocross racers. We’re based on community-contributed content, which means we welcome content submissions from anyone and prioritize representing all aspects of the sport of cyclocross, from the most grass-roots scene to the highest professional level of the sport.